By admin | December 15, 2011

I often wonder how we’ve gotten to the stage where we rely so heavily on convenience food. We want food and we want it fast but unfortunately that means we’ve compromised our health, taste buds and are way too ready to reach for the junky fat ridden fast food, shunning what’s fresh and natural. While processed fast food can satisfy an urge, I find it never really gets to the core of the matter, often leaving an indelible ‘ick’ factor post consumption.

My weakness has always been iced desserts – ice cream, sorbets, frozen yogurt, milkshakes – and yes, I will admit to, on occasion succumbing to a McFlurry or the like before I decided to cut dairy from my diet, so believe me, I know the attraction to such treats! I also know, those very same sugar laden, fat-filled desserts are totally bad for you. Plus, you can’t deny they are always tinged with too much regret to ever be fully enjoyed anyway.

What if I told you though, that you need not give up your soft serve habit. What if I told you I may just have the answer to those soft serve prayers and what if I told you it just happens to be a whole lot healthy. Good for you, good for planet, good for everybody.

I’ve called it a smoothie soft serve pudding because that’s exactly what its like – dessert, drink, treat, snack, breakfast, all rolled into one. You could use a straw but that sounds like way too much effort to me. I prefer to scoop it up with a spoon and really make a meal out of it -it also feels a lot more indulgent this way.

I’d be happy to have this for breakfast, as an afternoon or post workout pick me up or even as an after dinner dessert becauseÂ thisÂ is an anytime treat – sans guilt, sans colossal calories with all the sweetness you’ll ever need. Make the swap and you’ll not only see the difference. You’ll be the difference.

Mango & Banana Smoothie Soft Serve Pudding Recipe

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana
1 frozen mango
1/2 cup pourable coconut milk

Method:

Peel the banana, slice into medium sized pieces, place in a freezer bag or glass Tupperware and freeze overnight.

Do the same with the mango.

The next day put the frozen banana and mango and *coconut milk into a blender and blend until completely smooth.

Photos: Aine Carlin

Aine Carlin is a vegan blogger who specializes in vegan recipes. She also has a keen interest in vegan fashion and is currently training to be a stylist where she hopes to promote cruelty free clothing and beauty. You can find more of her vegan recipes and vegan friendly fashion over atÂ www.peasoupeats.com

For more great recipes from Aine, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@MarcusCooks)

Directions

By Suzannah Schneider

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